Sights & Attractions in Manzanillo

Manzanillo Sights

Manzanillo is a practical city geared to function rather than form. The downtown waterfront area isn't ho-hum, thanks to the malecón—the centerpiece of which is a huge turquoise statue of a leaping sailfish by Chihuahua sculptor Sebastián—and increased cruise-ship travel, but it's not so interesting that you'll want to linger for hours. Most services and restaurants used by travelers are strung along the Boulevard Miguel de la Madrid, with little sense of connection or community. But to get to know the city's nonresort side, you can stroll the surrounding business district, which is crisscrossed with streets that are safe to explore.

Downtown has a few sights; the beach is the main attraction in Manzanillo, and the prettiest are the rocky coves that cluster at the foot of the Santiago Peninsula, which separates the bays and towns of Bahía de Santiago and Bahía de Manzanillo, and provides the multitiered vistas for Manzanillo's most luxurious resorts. Usually, when visitors decide to leave their hotel's beachfront, they join organized tours or fishing expeditions, or head out of town on their own to explore small beach hamlets.